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Those people

January 28, 2019

By the time you hear a sermon preached, there are words, illustrations and maybe even a rant or two that’s been left out.

This weekend, I preached from 1 Corinthians 12. We heard that one of the gifts God has given us, the church, is the gift of unity. The unity of God’s Church is unique. No other group of humans can experience this unity in the same way because God has brought us together.

I left out a quote I had been considering. In the end, it didn’t fit, exactly, what we were hearing. I’ll probably use it some time in the future.

In the mean time, it’s a great enough thought that you should hear it now.

I read The Turquoise Table this week. The book is about creating community. In our ever-connected but truly disconnected world, that can be hard to do. We have a hard time trusting others. Seeing others differently.

Writing about our need to deconstruct the walls we put up between each other, the author quoted another author, saying:

We are those people. The truth is, we are the others. Most of us are one paycheck, one divorce, one drug addicted kid, one mental health illness, one sexual assault, one drinking binge, one night of unprotected sex, or one affair away from being those people. The ones we don’t trust. The ones we pity. The ones we don’t let our kids play with. The ones bad things happen to. The ones we don’t want living next door.

(Emphasis mine)

Lord, with that reminder, help us, as much as it is possible on our part, to live at peace with everyone.